What is and what is NOT Medical Negligence?
Medical Negligence (also referred to as medical malpractice) is when a medical provider fails to follow the standard of care in his or her area of practice and such failure results in injury to the patient. It is a complicated area of the law that most often requires another medical provider to affirm or testify against the treating provider.
What is NOT by itself Medical Negligence?
- When a medical provider is rude or rushed.
- When a medical provider fails to heal the patient.
- When the patient has an adverse outcome.
Most medical providers went into their fields of medicine because they want to help solve patient’s health problems – not cause the patient to have greater problems. However accidents and mishaps do sometimes happen. So what are some examples of possible Medical Negligence?
- When a surgeon leaves a medical instrument in a patient causing injury such as the need for a second surgery to remove the instrument.
- When a surgeon operates on the wrong body part.
- When a medical provider fails to diagnose an injury or illness that a provider in his or her field should have known about and treated – thus resulting in injury.
- When a medical provider fails to get informed consent and performs an operation that the patient did not agree to have done.
Assessing cases of medical negligence requires very experienced legal counsel. This article provides general information only and should not be relied upon as legal advice. For more details please be sure to contact an attorney.